The game of blackjack, also known as twenty-one (“21”), is a popular wager game played with one or more standard decks of playing cards. The rules of blackjack are described in the game literature and will not be detailed here. The rules also vary slightly depending on the casino or country where the game is played. Suffice it to say that, in most forms of the game, the player makes a wager and then receives two cards face down from a dealer. The dealer receives two cards, one face down and the other face up. The player then elects to either receive one or more cards from the dealer or retains the cards he has, hoping that the sum of the point count for the cards in his hand does not exceed 21. The dealer follows fixed rules as to whether to sit on its two cards or receive one or more additional cards. If the player does not “bust” (the sum of the point count of cards in his hand exceeds 21) but the dealer busts, then the player wins, e.g., an amount equal to the amount wagered. If the player busts, the player loses his wager. If neither the player nor the dealer bust, then if the sum of the point count of the player's hand is greater than that of the dealer, the player wins. If there is a tie, the player's wager is returned. If the dealer's hand is closer to 21 than the player, the player loses. Aces can be counted as either 1 or 11.
In general, the house (dealer) has a slight advantage over the player at blackjack under the rules governing play at all casinos. Therefore, casinos can offer blackjack as wager game in which it may lose money to some players, but in the long run the casino will make money on the enterprise.
Blackjack's popularity stems, at least in part, from the great mystique associated with systematic ways of playing the game to minimize the house advantage. In the early 1960's, a mathematician and university professor, Edward O. Thorp, used a computer to analyze the game of blackjack and discovered a set of rules for systematically playing the game of blackjack. Thorp's system takes into account the point value of cards which are exposed to the player during the course of play. If the game is played in accordance with rules developed by Thorp, the house advantage can not only be negated, but actually turned into an advantage for the player. Thorp's book “Beat the Dealer”, second edition, Vintage Books (1966), has emerged as a classic text on blackjack and card counting. The book includes several accounts of Thorp, and others using his system, making large sums of money playing blackjack at casinos.
Card counting techniques, of which there are several explained in Thorp's book, essentially are techniques by which the player obtains a strategy for determining whether to receive an additional card or cards as a result of noting or counting cards from the deck which have been revealed to the player as a result of having been dealt to the player, dealt face up to the dealer, or dealt to other players. Depending on the cards that have been revealed, the advantage (i.e., statistical probability that a player will beat the dealer using the card counting technique) may swing to the dealer, or to the player, sometimes strongly so. An example of where the player may have a strong advantage is when the game is played from a single deck of 52 cards and the cards are dealt down to the last card. Using Thorp's card counting techniques, the player can determine when a player has an advantage, or when the dealer has an advantage. When the advantage is to the player and particularly strongly so (a situation detectable using Thorp's card counting methods), the player places a large wager. Conversely, when the advantage is to the dealer, the player places a small or minimum wager. Over the long term, card counting allows the player to gain a statistical advantage over the dealer. The player will profit from his play, provided that Thorp's methods are rigidly adhered to, the player places large or small wagers in accordance with Thorp's rules, and also provided that the rules are not changed during play and the dealer does not cheat.
Although card counting adds to blackjack's popularity, because it works to negate the house edge, casinos, and establishments more generally, have actively discouraged card counting techniques in order to not lose money by offering blackjack. To minimize the ability for card counters to accurately count, for example, establishments enforce rules that tend to minimize a player's ability to count cards. For example, the establishments engage in practices such as increase the number of decks of cards that are used in the blackjack card shoe, shuffle the “spent” cards with the cards still left in the shoe regularly or after every hand, remove certain features of the game such as surrender and doubling, and even prevent known card counters from entering the given establishment or asking them to leave once discovered. It is estimated that casinos spend large sums to prevent card counting and to catch card counters.
Thus, while the prior art recognizes that card counting can be a successful technique for beating the dealer at blackjack, the art also teaches that casinos should take steps to prevent card counting in order to retain the house advantage.
This disclosure presents a distinct departure from the prior art, as it describes blackjack tournaments, suitable for offering in a casino establishment, in which card counting is not only tolerated but actually encouraged. In particular, the tournaments are conducted in accordance with one or more rules of play that are designed to facilitate counting of cards by card counters, such as dealing from a single deck of 52 cards down to the last card. The more proficient a player is at the methods of Professor Thorp, or at newer or even better card counting methods, the better the player can expect to do at the tournament. Accordingly, tournaments in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure might well be advertised under the banner “Card Counters Welcome!” Conversely, usage of such a banner at a blackjack establishment today in most circumstances would be virtually unthinkable because such establishments intentionally try to frustrate card counting.